Interesting. I understand the slippers turned ruby red when the 1st book was made into a movie in 1939. Silver shoes would have been washed out on the silver screen so that Dorothy would have looked like she had no feet so the studio settled on ruby slippers.

Do you mean that Baum omitted the chapter or that you have chosen to omit some of the original content?

I'd guess that his publisher was the one to cut it out back when Baum wrote it. You see similar things in other media. Some scenes were cut from Frankenstein (with Boris Karloff) when the movie 1st came out due to it being felt people would find them objectionable as an example. I can see a publisher having done something similar with an author's book.

Interesting. I understand the slippers turned ruby red when the 1st book was made into a movie in 1939. Silver shoes would have been washed out on the silver screen so that Dorothy would have looked like she had no feet so the studio settled on ruby slippers.

The movie was filmed in Technicolor, and the studio wanted the slippers to really stand out, so they changed the slippers from silver to ruby. They fit in with the over the top color of everything in Oz. The book and the movie have quite a lot of differences, but both the movie and the book work.

They do differ in how Oz deals with the party's requests:

Spoiler:

In the movie, Oz gives them sybols of what they wanted, because, as the song says "Oz never did give nothin' to the Tin Man that he didn't already have; he gave the Scarecrow a diploma, a testimonial to the Tin woodman, and a medal to the Cowardly lion. In the book, he fills the Scarecrow's head with bran so he can have "bran new brains". He gives the Tin Woodman a heart made of felt and installs it into his chest. The cowardly lion he gives a bottle of courage, which was a joke based in the idea of people getting their courage from a bottle. In both the book and the movie, all three exhibit the traits that they wish to have: the scarecrow, although he doesn't know to avoid potholes, comes up with a lot of good ideas, the Tin Woodman cares greatly about people's feelings, and the Cowardly Lion goes into dangerous situations. The Cowardly Lion is more visibly scared in the movie than in the books.

I read my daughter all of Baum's original Oz books. I read her the first of Ruth Plumly Thompson's Oz books, but it just didn't seem to have the same.

The 8th book from Baum's Oz series, Tik-Tok of Oz, is now available from Eltanin Publishing! It includes all of the original illustrations (over 100, some in color) by John R. Neill. DRM-free.

Tik-Tok of Oz follows a band of characters as they attempt to find and rescue The Shaggy Man's brother from the Nome King. Some we have met before, such as The Shaggy Man, the Nome King, Polychrome, Tik-Tok, and even a brief appearance by Toto (who has a surprise for everyone). Many interesting new characters also make an appearance, including Queen Ann Soforth of Oogaboo, who wants to conquer Oz; Betsy Bobbin and her mule Hank, who wash ashore in Oz during a storm; the Rose Princess Ozga; and a a lackadaisical, flying dragon named Quox.

As you can see above, our Oz books are now available at Kobobooks.com, for those of you who use Kobo and/or want the ePub version but can’t buy from Barnes & Noble. Searching on just “Eltanin” seems to work best (if you include the word “publishing”, Kobo finds all books with the word “publishing”).

One note about images – Since our books are DRM-free, you can buy them at either of these 3 stores and convert them (if necessary) to read on any device. However, some of our kindle versions have larger versions of some illustrations. This is because both nook and kobo cut off parts of images that don’t fit the screen, rather than what the kindle does, which is shrinking images to fit the screen. So if you are reading on a nook or kobo, we do not recommend buying the Amazon/kindle version. On the other hand, if you are reading on a kindle, or on a large-screen device such as the apps for iPad or PC or a large tablet, we do recommend the kindle version so that you get the larger images.

We recently discovered that a few of our Oz books for sale at Barnes & Noble had line spacing issues (most noticeable at an increased line spacing, where not all lines would increase evenly). If you experience this, simply archive your book and re-download it and the problem will be fixed. If you ever notice any problem with our books, please let us know (info@eltaninpublishing.com).

If you are enjoying our Oz books, please consider leaving a review for one or more of them at Amazon and/or Kobo (Barnes & Noble’s review system for public domain books is messed up, so I can’t recommend leaving a review there). Thank you – reviews really make a difference!

Happy Holidays, everyone! We're pleased to announce that the 9th book of the Oz series, The Scarecrow of Oz, is now available!

Includes ALL the original illustrations (over 110) by John R. Neill, many of them in color, and a new Preface by Oz expert and Eltanin Editor Joseph Nusbaum.

From the Editor’s Preface:
"The ninth Oz book in the series, The Scarecrow of Oz, was Baum’s personal favorite. The reason Baum loved the book so dearly is likely because he incorporated so many story elements he was passionate about. Baum moved to Hollywood four years earlier, and in a few short years it had transformed into the motion picture capital of America. When Baum wrote Scarecrow in 1914, he was heavily involved in this new industry, having co-founded The Oz Film Manufacturing Co. Earlier that year, Baum had already adapted The Patchwork Girl of Oz into a film, modified from the book to include a love story for a broader audience..."

We've taken a short break from formatting the Oz books (and publishing other books) to edit and format two illustrated novels by J. M. Barrie: Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, and Peter and Wendy. We've bundled these into one ebook along with the original illustrations.

There are 74 illustrations in Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, most of them in full color, by illustrator Arthur Rackham, who also illustrated Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. There are 13 illustrations in Peter and Wendy, by illustrator F. D. Bedford.

Excerpt from the Editor's Preface:

Quote:

The Peter Pan character first appeared in Scottish novelist J. M. Barrie’s novel A Little White Bird, published in 1902. The chapters about Peter Pan were a story within the story. In 1904, Barrie’s stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up debuted and enjoyed great success. Following up on this success, Barrie extracted the Peter Pan chapters from A Little White Bird (which was a book for adults), and published Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, a children’s book, in 1906. The book was illustrated by Arthur Rackham, who had previously illustrated Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Barrie expanded and adapted his stage play into a novel, which was published in 1911 as Peter and Wendy, with illustrations by F. D. Bedford.

Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens is very different from the idea most of us have of Peter Pan (thanks in great part to the Disney film and the Mary Martin Broadway musical). In fact, Peter is only seven days old in this book!...

For the moment, this book is only available in the U.S. and Canada, but we expect to have it available worldwide soon. If you'd like to be notified when it is available worldwide, subscribe to this thread, or email us at info@eltaninpublishing.com.

Yes, we're aware of that, and have made arrangements with GOSH. In the front of our book, you'll note, we state, "Text of Peter and Wendy used with permission of Great Ormond Street Hospital, London".

What's holding up availability in the UK & EU is copyright on F. D. Bedford's illustrations in Peter and Wendy. He died 58 years ago, and copyright in the UK (and thus now EU) and some other countries is life +70 yrs. (U.S. copyright laws only take into account the death date of the author for works published after 1978, and Canada is life + 50). We have been in contact with the copyright holder and have made arrangements, and are just waiting for final approval.

Yes, we're aware of that, and have made arrangements with GOSH. In the front of our book, you'll note, we state, "Text of Peter and Wendy used with permission of Great Ormond Street Hospital, London".

What's holding up availability in the UK & EU is copyright on F. D. Bedford's illustrations in Peter and Wendy. He died 58 years ago, and copyright in the UK (and thus now EU) and some other countries is life +70 yrs. (U.S. copyright laws only take into account the death date of the author for works published after 1978). We have been in contact with the copyright holder and have made arrangements, and are just waiting for final approval.

I find that the publisher name on the front cover is distracting as the font is too large and too in your face. The best solution (IMHO) is to remove the publisher name from the cover altogether. Also, the author is getting no credit on the front cover.

Thanks for the feedback, JSWolf, but we'll be leaving it as-is. The goal is for the publisher's name to be readable when the book cover appears as a thumbnail when viewed on various ebook retailer sites (Amazon, Kobo, etc.). We've been publishing the Oz books, and have acquired a following for well-formatted, illustrated books. Our Oz book covers are all similar, with "Eltanin Publishing" across the bottom. When people see our name on the thumbnail cover, they know they're getting quality work.

Of course, for non-public domain books, it would be silly to have the publisher's name on the cover. But when readers search for classics, they get many options; there has to be a visible way to tell them apart.